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(CNN) -- A 40-year-old man was charged with second-degree
murder Friday in connection with the stabbing and beheading death of
his seatmate on a Greyhound Canada bus, authorities said.
Police investigate the scene near Portage la Prairie, Canada, on Thursday.
Vince Weiguang Li of Edmonton, Alberta, stood silent before a judge
Friday in the Provincial Court of Manitoba in Portage la Prairie, the
Associated Press reported.
A prosecutor sought a
psychiatric evaluation of the defendant, but the judge said he'd wait
until Li had obtained an attorney, AP reported. Li is due back in court
Tuesday.
The body of the 22-year-old male victim is to be autopsied Friday, police said. The victim's name was not released.
However, the Canadian Press named the dead man as Tim McLean, 22, of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
McLean was repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated by the man sitting
next to him on a Greyhound Canada bus Thursday west of Portage la
Prairie in Manitoba.
Garnet Caton, who was sitting in front of McLean, talked of a "bloodcurdling scream" when the attack began.
"It was like something between a dog howling and a baby crying, I guess
you could say," Caton said. "I don't think it will leave me for a
while." 
Watch Caton describe what he saw »
Passengers exited the bus, and a trucker who stopped provided wrenches
and crowbars to several of them so they could keep the suspect on the
bus until police came, witnesses told Canadian TV.
The attacker
was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff, during which he
remained in the bus with the victim's body. Police said Thursday he was
seized after he broke a window and attempted to jump from the vehicle.
Several media outlets named McLean as the victim and said he had been
returning home after working on a booth at an Alberta fair.
William Caron, 23, of Winnipeg, told Canadian Press he had known McLean since they went to school together.
"I knew he was coming back from the [exhibition]. ... My brother was
supposed to go meet him at the bus depot and he never showed up. And
then my younger brother and my other brother went to go to his parents'
place to see if they know anything, and they saw a bunch of news people
there. And then they asked at his parents' and that's how we found
out," Caron said.
By early Friday there were scores of condolence messages on Facebook groups set up to remember McLean.
Caron and his wife, Jodi, were among the first to leave notes.
"We love you so much," wrote Jodi. "The kids will miss you so much and
so will William and I. You were a great person, always happy and loved
and had an amazing personality."
"I can't believe this is
happening," wrote Leah Dryburgh of Winnipeg. "Tim, you were the best
guy ever. You didn't deserve this at all."
Witnesses on the bus said McLean had been sleeping with his head leaning against the window when the attack happened.
Colwell said there was no immediate indication of what prompted the
attack. He said he didn't know how many times the victim was stabbed.
Witnesses described the weapon as a large butcher-type knife. Watch Colwell discuss the case »
Colwell praised the "extraordinary" calmness and bravery of the bus driver and passengers.
"What you saw and what you experienced would shake the most seasoned
police officer. And yet I'm told that each of you acted swiftly, calmly
and bravely," Colwell said. "As a result, no one else was injured."
The bus was traveling along the Trans-Canada Highway from Edmonton to
Winnipeg, and was about 45 minutes from its destination when the attack
occurred, Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said in Dallas, Texas.
Caton told the AP that the attacker didn't sit near the victim when he first got on the bus, about an hour before the attack.
"He sat in the front at first;
everything was normal," Caton said. "We went to the next stop, and he
got off and had a smoke with another young lady there. When he got on
the bus again, he came to the back near where I was sitting. He put his
bags in the overhead compartment. He didn't say a word to anybody. He
seemed totally normal."
Half an hour later,
the attack began, Caton told the AP. "There was no rage or anything. He
was like a robot, stabbing the guy."
Last edited: 02-Aug-08 09:29 AM
Last edited: 02-Aug-08 09:36 AM
